Gas apparatus



Jari. 17, 1933.

E. J. BRADY GAS APPARATUS Filed oct.l 2e, 1928 Patented Jan. 17, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT orme EDWARD J'. BRADY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB TO THE UNITED GAS IMPROVEMENT COMPANY, OF IPHILADELFHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORA- TION OF PENN SYLVNIA.

eine arraaa'rus Application tiled October 26, 1928. Serial No. 315,131.

The' present invention relates tol theremoval of solid particles from gases.

The object of the invention is to provide new and improved apparatus for effecting such removal and particularly to 'provide means for effectively and .economically removing particles f solids such as ash and fuel from the hot gases issuing from a water gas generator or producer. I

In the manufacture of carburetted water gas for instance, air and steam are passed alternately through the fuel 'bed ofthe water gas generator. The air blast gases are passed through the carburetter and su erheater and burned with secondary air.- hese vessels are filled with checkerbrick which stores the heat of the blastgases. During the steaming operation or run, steam is passed through the fuel bed of generator forming water gas, all or a part of which is passed through the carburetter and superheater and there enriched by oil sprayed into the carburetter. The stored heat in the checkerbrick, va orizes and cracks the oil and produces li) gases from the oilvapors.

vIn order to secure economy and high capacity the cycles of air blasting and steaming are made short,` and a very high rate of blast is employed and a large4 volume of hot producer 'gas and products of combustion issue :from the generator, in a given time, producing velocities in the connection between the generator and carburetter of the` order of 7,000 linear ft.l per min. During the steam run the velocity may be of the order of 3.000 linear ft. per min.y l"

considerable quantities of fuel to be blown over into'y the carburetter and superheater. This material varies greatly insize and quantity depending on the fuel used and operating conditions. A large blow hole in the generator producing channelling of the blast will cause coke pieces as large as base balls to blow over.

This blown over material is a seriousin-y V 4the lblast pressure an equivalent amount to .blast the lfuel bed at the same rate and` any 100 convenience in operating. Coarse particles may stop up the gas passages between the xed" checke'rbri'cks in the carburetting vessels and stoppages may be caused by even the tine ma -terial, which is caught and retained by the tar deposited on the checkerbrick from the carburettingoil. Lar e quantities of blown over material will ao accumulate in the bases of the carbure'tter and superheater as Well as in the base of the waste heat boiler if one is employed.'

The set must be peridi'cally put out of operation to remove the blown over material.

Even that part of the material which is carried through the stack constitutes a serious nuisance not only in the nei hborhood of. the plant but in the plant'itse f.

Itis therefore desirable to remove as much of the blown over material (from the gases) as possible economically and before its entrance to the carburettin vessels.

A number of practlc'al. 'considerations make an 'etlicient removal of this material a difficult problem. The gases containing the material are at a relativel high tem rature-1200 to 1300 F. and 1t is des'iray le to .75

have the ,apparatus suchl as may be conveniently lined with a refractory material.

The apparatus must be well 'insulated as it is necessary to conserve the heat in these gases for `the eicient operation of the gas process for instance an appreciable cooling ofthe air blast gases will delay their ignition on entrance to the carburetter and cause the loss of a considerable portion of their yheat as well as resulting ina low carburetter top A p l carburetting operation.

The high velocity of flow through thefuel'. bed itself and through. the connection be tween the generator and carburetter, causes temperature, with a-harmful eiect on the terial efficientlyv and without the develop-I ment of excessive back pressure. Any additional-back pressure requires the raising of 4 25, let from the chamber at a higher elevation without increasing the blast rate is very ex l. 5 tigation of 'long series ofexperiments on various typesl considerablev raising of the blast pressure brought out that small and' apparently trifling changes in the shape of the apparatus sometimes produced changes of great magnitude inthe eciency or the back pressure developed or both. i p

The apparatus of the present invention consists of a chamber shaped substantially as an upright frustrum of a cone and having a hopper bottom, furnished with a closable opening gas inlet entering the chamber tangentially and preferably downwardly adaptedto swirl the gas within the chamber, and a gas outthan the inlet and leading off tangentially and in the direction of the swirl of the gas.

This application is directed to mynovel combination of a gas generator or producer either for producer gas, water gas or carburetted water gas and a novel structure for removing-solid particles from the gas. The

structure for removing solid particles fromy the gas when not in combination is the subject of my divisional application Serial No. 550,838 filed July 15, 1931 copending with the present application. I

.The apparatus will be described in connection with the figures in which,

Fig. y1- shows a plan of the apparatus in connection with a carburetter or water gas set.

Fig. 2 showsan elevation of the appara- I tus itself. y

Fig. 3 shows-a horizontal cross section along the line -3-3 in Fig. 2.

Fig.- 4 shows a horizontal cross section along` the line ir-4 of Figure 2.

Referring to Figures 2, 3 and 4; 1 generally indicates the chamber of the apparatus' which is in the form ofV an upright frustrum of a -cone in which the larger diameter is verticallv lower than the smaller diameter and is provided with the hopper bottom 2 which has the closable opening 3. n arrangement shown the chamber is providediwithin the shell 4, with the refractory lining 5, and the heat insulating material 8. When handling gases of low or moderate temperature thislining may be dispensed with.

6 indicates the gas inlet which enters the chamber tangentially and downwardly as shown. This inlet may be constricted and of decreasing lateral dimension as shown in the Figure 3, if a higher inlet velocity is defor the removal of solid material. ay

, separator is connected.

Lacasse sirable than would be obtained from an unrel' stricted-inlet. v This will depend, of course, upon the vlocity of the gas as delivered from the apparatus, in connection with which my separator is used. 7 is the gas outlet which leadstangentially from the chamber at a higher ele-v vation than the inlet 6. The horizontal width of the outlet pipe` is somewhat narrowed at the oint of outlet, but the outlet is not necessari y of constructed area, the object being to skim oft' the gases at the periphery ofthe gas stream, where the velocity is highest. It was found experimentally that this is of importance in minimizing back pressure.- The outlet 7.may therefore have an increasingly lateral dimension.

In operation the gas laden with solid y particles enters the chamber through the inlet 6 and is swirled downwardly within the chamber. The solid particles are driven by centrifugal force to the outside of the swirling gas stream and are thrown against th sloping wall of the chamber. Due to the downward incidence of their contact with the wall and the slope' of the wall the rebound of the particles is directed downward toward the base of the chamber, where assisted by gravity the particles settle. The height of the gas entrance above the base is chosen vsuch that the gas swirl will not be carried down far enough to 4pick up the solid particles which have settled out.

. The swirling gas after the initial downi ward swirl'which takes place immediately afterxits entrance, swirls upwards through the chamber and finds aneasy and rapid exit through the tangential gas outlet, which leads olf in the direction of the swirl. With the tangential outlet the back pressure de veloped in the'apparatus-is much'lower than if an axial outlet were provided. The separa tion caused by the combination of the downward tangential inlet and the sloping wall of the chamber, with the outlet above the inlet, is so effective that the gases may leave tangentially through the outlet at a considerable velocity without carrying dust out of the apparatus. An axial outlet is therefore made unnecessary from a standpoint of separation efficiency and is a detriment from the standpoint `of back pressure developed, a point confirmed by my experimentation. Referring to Figure 2This Figure shows an elevation of the separator shown in plan in Figure 1. Element 1 is the shell-of the apparatus as before.

Itis to benoted that the angle (on the `horizontal plane) between the inlet and the outlet may be widely varied to suit the arrangement of the apparatus to which the Referring tol Figure l-This figure shows a plan view lof a carburetted water gas set with the separator connected between the water gas generator and the carburetter, 11 is the generator,12 the carburetter, 16 the superheater the two lattervessels are filled with checker rick as indicated at 13), i 14 the stack, 15 is the separator provided with the inlet 6 leading from the top of the generator and the outlet 7 leading to the top of the carburetter, 18 are steam admissions tothe generator having valve 118 therein. 19 is the air blast inlet having valve 119. therein, 20 is a combustible gas oitake from the enerator leading to the washbox (not shownl as does the combustible gas oftake 21 from t e superheater 16. .Conduit 20 has valve 120 therein and conduit 21 has valve 121 therein. 22 is the oil supply to the carburetter and has valve 122 therein.

In operation the solid fuel bed in the generator is air blasted, the hot blast gases heavily laden with particles of fuel-and ash pass into the separator 15 through connection 6. T he blown over fuel and ash particles are deu posited` in the separator, the cleaned gas passing through connection 7 to .the carburetter 12 and superheater 13 vand thence to the stack 14. Secondary air is admitted to the carburetter through the pipe 30 having valve 130 therein leading into pipe 7. The run is 'now made sind steam is passed up through the incandescent fuel bed, producing water gas which` also passes through connection 6 into the separator 15 before its entrance to the carburetter. Solid particles carried out of the genera-tor are deposited in the separator. `Oil is sprayed into the carburetter durin the passage of the water gasv through it, an z the oil vapors are fixed in theVH superheater. The carburetted water gas passes to a wash box, not shown, through connection 21.

. In the water gas apparatus shown for il lustration the down run may be made by admitting steam to the top of the generator whichy does, not pass through the carburetter and superheater but is led directly romthe base of the enerator to the wash box. It is not passed t rough the separator 15.

If it is desired to make a down run with superheated steam, steam is admitted to the superheater top through pipe 31 having valve 131 therein, and-passes through the superheater, ,carburetter, and dust separator into the top of the generator. Due to the fact that both the connection between the separator and the carburetter and the separator and the generator are tangential to the separator, no appreciable back pressure is developed in the separator, during the passage of the steam through it.

The apparatus of the present invention has been developed chiefly for use with water gas apparatus but it is capable of convenient use and has advantage in many applications, in which it is desirable to remove solid particles from a stream of gas.

I claim:

1. yCarburetted water gas apparatus comprising a separate water gas generator, a sep- 'arate carburetter, a separate structure for the shape, a gas inlet pipe leading from said generator and connecting downwardly land tangentially with said structure, and a gas outlet pipe leading olf tangentially from said structure to said carburetter.

3. Carburet'ted water gas apparatus comprising a separate water'gas generator, a separate carbur'etter, a separatev structure for the removal of solid pa "ticle's from the gas comprising a chamber of upright fru'sto-conical' shape, a gas inlet pipe of decreasing lateral dimension leading from said generator and connecting downwardly and tangentially with said structure, and a gas outlet pipe of increasing lateral dimension Vleading off tangentially from said stricture to said carbuetter.

4L Carburetted water gas apparatus comprising a separate water gas generator, a separate carburetter, a separate structure for the removal of solid particles from the gas comprising a chamber of upright frusto-concal shape, a gas inlet pipe of decreasing lateral. dimension leading from said generator and connecting downwardly and tangentially with said structure, and a gas outlet pipe of increasing lateral dimension leading oftangentially from said structure at a higher level than saidinlet pipe to said structure. 5. A water gas apparatus comprising a separate water gas generator, a separate ves'- sel adapted to contain refractory material, al separate structure for removing solid particles from the gas comprising a frusto-conical chamber, a gas inlet pipe leading from said generator and connecting downwardly and tangentially with said structure, and a gas outlet pipe leading off tangentially. from said structure to said vessel. 6. A water gas apparatus comprising a separate water gas generator, a separate vessel adapted to contain refractory material, a separate structure for removing solid particles from the gas comprising a frusto-conical chamber, a gas inlet pipe leading from said generator and connecting downwardly and tangentially with said structure, and a A @zur above the inlet from the first pipe from said structure to said vessel.

7. A gas manufacturing apparatuspcomprising a separate gas generator, a separate `structure for removing solid particles from the gas comprising a frusto-conical chamber, a gas inlet pipe leading from said generator and connecting downwardly and tan ential- 1y with said structure, and a gas out et pipe lleading oil tangentially from said structure.

8. A gas manufacturing apparatus comprising a separate gas generator, a separate structure for removing solid particles from vthe gas comprising a frusto-conical chamber, a gas inlet pipe leading from said generator and connecting downwardly and tan ential- 1y with said-structure, and a gas out et pipe leading oil' tangentially and above the inlet from said Afirst pipe to said structure.

EDWARD J. BRADY. 

